bars

Music played a very significant role during my formative years. I come from a musical family; we have singers, guitarists, pianist, songwriters and composers. One of my fondest memories is falling asleep night after night to the sound of my dad softly playing his guitar in the living room.

I still play a little piano on occasion, but I can no longer read sheet music. I never have the opportunity to sing, unless it’s an intoxicated evening of karaoke with friends.

Whenever I do happen to hear an amazing musician live, I realize that the one thing my life lacks is music. Not music from an Ipod or radio, or Pandora, but real, live music. Live music is an opportunity to watch someone living their passion and sharing it, and for me this is always a powerful thing to experience.

The Fort Collins Music Experiment (FoCoMX) will provide me the chance to see, hear and discover musicians from my own area.

This two-day event will provide me, and others, the opportunity to see 200 bands at 30 different venues for just $15.

FoCoMX runs Friday and Saturday nights, April 8 and 9, 2011. Free buses will be running between venues every 15 minutes between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Some of the venues are 21+ only, but others are all-ages friendly. Some of my favorite Fort Collins hotspots are on the list including Avogadro’s Number and Road 34.

To be honest, I don’t recognize the names of many of the bands in the lineup, and also in the honesty vein, I can be a little picky. Musicians are everywhere, but good musicians are really hard to find.

I’m hoping to discover some great, local musicians during this event. If your favorite band is playing FoCoMX, let me know when and where!

Find the Fort Collins Music Experiment (FoCoMx) online at www.focomx.org. See the entire line up of bands, venues and purchase tickets.

I can ride a bike, but I am not a “cyclist,” however, I do occasionally tune in to the grand daddy of all bike races to check on Lance and revel in the beauty of the French countryside.

While chatting with several of my enthusiastic cycling friends, I was made aware that while most bars and restaurants are willing to air Tour de France, most refuse to turn on the sound. According to one avid Tour fan, half the fun of watching the race is being able to hear the commentary.

So without further adieu (so excited to have included a French word in this post), here is a list of Northern Colorado venues that will be showing Tour de France with the sound on and the volume up.

Road 34, 1213 W. Elizabeth, Fort Collins, CO – It’s not just a bike shop, it’s also a bar. This place will definitely be showing the Tour with the sound on. You can’t beat Road 34 for dependably good bar food and affordable beer. www.Road34.com

Bungalow Coffee House, 1399 Water Valley Parkway, Windsor, CO – This place has been Windsor’s headquarters for World Cup action, and they intend to be the same for Tour de France. In addition to being voted the Best Coffee in Windsor, they also offer breakfast, lunch and ice cream. They have recently obtain their liquor license, so you can ride over and enjoy an ice-cold beer while watching the Tour on their flat screen televisions. www.bungalowcoffeehouse.com

CB & Potts, Colindale Golf Course location, 1441 E. Horsetooth Road, Fort Collins, CO – This past spring, CB & Potts took over the restaurant/bar at Colindale Golf Course, and it’s not just about golf at this place. For World Cup the bar has done promotion with Modelo beer, and because they open early, it was packed for the matches. They intend to pack the house for the Tour as well. www.cbpotts.com

Mulligan’s Pub, 2439 S. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO – This pub has private booths were you can ask for the sound to be turned on or up on the various televisions. The pub has also just recently opened their Sports Club, and if there’s enough interest, they will be showing the Tour in the club. www.mulliganspubfc.com

Peloton Cycles, 1310 W. Eisenhower Blvd., Loveland, CO & 3027 E. Harmony Rd., Fort Collins, CO – Both of these bike shops will be showing Tour De France on their flat screen televisions. They invite you to stop in and watch with fellow cycling fans. www.peloton-cycles.com

This year’s 97th Tour runs Saturday, July 3 through Sunday, July 25. To keep a close online eye on the race, click here.

Downtown Loveland has a new restaurant at 124 E. 4th Street. The former Cipoletti’s restaurant is now the PourhouseBar & Grill. Pourhouse opened yesterday, and I was there to check it out.

The first noticeable difference is the outside of the building – it has been painted black. The inside has been altered only slightly. Walls have been removed to create a more open, airy space. It appears the owners are going for a modern twist on the English pub look.

A brightly painted upright piano sits just inside the front door and black panels have been installed on the ceiling. The best part of the space at 124 E. 4th has always been the brightly lit bar area, and thankfully, it is little changed.

There are now four flat screen televisions, two in the bar and two in the restaurant. However, Pourhouse will not have the Sunday Ticket during NFL season.

Happy hour runs 3 to 6 p.m. and features $3 beer and well drinks and $4 wine. Normal hour beer prices are $3.75 for a pint and $5.25 for a monster mug. They have a variety of Colorado beers from Lefthand Brewery (Longmont), Avery (Boulder) and Bristol (Colorado Springs), among others.

The restaurant has some obvious kinks to work out with staffing, but the bartender did his best to keep the patrons happy. When I was finally assigned a waitress named Jenna, she was very nice and attentive. It’s hard to be critical of these types of issues on opening night.

The menu is American featuring everything from hamburgers to pizza. The entrees include steaks, ribs, chicken, and a selection of seafood, including salmon, ahi, and mahi mahi, withchoice of sauce. Sandwiches and hamburgers range from $7 to $11, pizza and pasta, $8 to $11 and entrees start at $11 for the beer battered cod with fries. There are quite a few vegetarian options throughout the menu.

One menu item that caught my eye was the Pizza of the Day for $10, which includes a $2 Beer of the Day. I ordered “The Heartburn” to go. This is a meat-loaded 12″ pizza for $10, and it was a good deal. The pizzas are similar in style to the pizzas made by Cipoletti’s – with a flat crusty crust and fresh ingredients.

I will provide a more comprehensive review of the Pourhouse once I have a chance to eat a full meal in-house. In the meantime, I think Pourhouse is an exciting addition to downtown Loveland, providing a venue for visiting with friends and listening to live music. So far, it looks like they are on the right track, though I think its going to take them a some time to find perfect pitch.

Post Update (October 1, 2009):

We have eaten at the Pourhouse at least five times since my first visit, so I decided to update the original post. I’m still not ready to give them an official review, because things are still in flux at the restaurant.

This Tuesday we stopped in for dinner. I ordered the falafel wrap ($7) and Ryan ordered the buffalo chili in a bread bowl ($8). Our waiter, who was also the bartender was very attentive and friendly all evening, even when the place got busy.

The chili doesn’t come with sour cream, chopped onions and cheese, but at Ryan’s request they brought all three with no upcharge. When the chili arrived he thought it looked like a small portion, but it really filled him up and he loved it. He will definitely order it again.

My falafel wrap, which I had ordered previously and enjoyed, was a real disappointment. They’ve changed it to a falafel pita (however, the menu still reads “wrap”). Everything about the meal was different, except for the hand-cut sweet potato fries, those were delicious. Instead of the falafel coming wrapped in a tortilla and drizzled with garlic sauce, four tiny overcooked falafel balls were laid out with some lettuce on a dry pita shell. They served it with a side of tzatziki that tasted mostly like mayo. Not impressed!

I informed our waitress of my surprise and disappointment. She said the kitchen had been changing up that particular dish for awhile and I told her to tell them to “change it back!”

Obviously things are still a little up in the air at the Pourhouse, but the staff is consistently friendly, and the food is usually very good, otherwise we wouldn’t keep going back.

There are a couple changes to note. They have installed an outside counter where, once they have their permits in place, you can drink your beer in the sunshine. Also, they’ve instituted a $5 happy hour food menu. Eight different appetizers are available for $5 from 3 to 6 p.m. daily (that’s every day folks, not just weekend). Also, on football Sunday, they run happy hour all day long and have ten wings for $5, which almost makes up for not having the NFL Sunday Ticket.

What is going on at Sanford’s Grub & Pub? Last night we visit their Ft. Collins, Colorado location at 1526 Oakridge Drive (just south of Harmony Road).

This is a favorite spot to meet up with friends from Ft. Collins because the food is well-priced and they have a good happy hour (1/2 price drinks & appetizers).

We arrived to find a sign over the bar declaring $1 draft beers, all day, every day. Seriously? Yes.

And this special includes ALL draft beers, not just the domestics.

I have no idea why they are running this crazy special, how long it will last or if it means they are emptying their kegs in preparation for closure. I sincerely hope they are not closing. This small chain (they have locations in Wyoming and Colorado) has dependably good food, over 20 hamburgers to choose from, large portions and excellent prices.

Photo by H.M. Kerr-Schlaefer

It’s an eclectic place – they seem to be going for a Bayou meets the West sort of theme. The menu has a variety of Cajun options, with a lot of deep fried deliciousness -including fried pickles – yum.

I always order from their massive list of salads. For only $7.99, you get a gigantic salad. Last night I got the BBQ Chicken Salad – it comes covered in onion rings, which sort of defeats the purpose of getting a salad, but makes it oh so good.

Our bill for four people, four entrees, and many, many beers was under $50.

So here’s to $1 beers at Sanford’s Grub & Pub! Get ’em while it lasts.